Scam hangs on promise of discount apartment

An unemployed local man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for swindling an acquaintance out of 560,000 yuan ($91,865) by promising to get her a discount on a new apartment, a district court said Monday.

The defendant, surnamed Wang, 37, met the victim in 2009 at a friend's get-together, where he told her he worked for an investment firm, according to a press release from Pudong New Area People's Court.

The victim, surnamed Zhou, contacted Wang at the beginning of 2012 to get some investment advice. Wang proposed that she invest in real estate. He claimed that he could help her buy an apartment at a discount through his job as a sales manager at a local real estate agency.

He suggested she purchase an 830,000-yuan service apartment in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, which he said he could get for 550,000 yuan, plus a 10,000-yuan commission.

After visiting the apartment complex, Zhou agreed to buy the property through Wang. She gave him a total of 560,000 yuan from December 2012 to April 2013.

When Wang failed to come through, Zhou demanded her money back, but he only returned 17,300 yuan, the court said. Unbeknownst to Zhou, Wang had gambling debts and spent most of her money repaying his lenders.

On September 2, Zhou reported Wang to police, who arrested him in Pudong New Area. The district court convicted Wang of fraud. It gave him the minimum sentence because he confessed to the crime. Under China's Criminal Law, Wang faced a minimum 10-year prison sentence because the fraud involved more than 200,000 yuan.